I was wondering what kind of demand is there for game engines these days. Back a few years ago there were fewer options so you had more bargening power, but I wonder how that is today. I’m interested in network and game subsystems more than the actual content of the game, as odd as that might sound. So on the side engine development is something I’m interested in.

Quote: Original post by MrRage
I was wondering what kind of demand is there for game engines these days. Back a few years ago there were fewer options so you had more bargening power, but I wonder how that is today.

I take it you're asking from the point of view of someone selling an engine, or components of an engine.

The short answer; unless that same game engine was used to make a AAA selling game, your demand will be pretty minimal. It depends of course; if you can drum up significant hype for your game and engine (similar to what Farcry did for it's technology), you might be able to sell a couple of versions off before your game is launched. In that case, though, your early customers would expect a reduced rate.

If you're attempting this from a "I'm an amature, but I have a really cool rendering/network engine, how can I sell it?", you have some issues:

- Companies don't deal with amatures, they deal with companies. Incorporate first.
- Who are you that company X should buy your technology?
- What do you provide that OGRE, TNL or other free solutions don't?
- Are you a MUCH better proposition (cost/features/licensing options) than what's already commercially available (as a newbie, you're immediatly higher risk)
- Do you have the infrastructure to support this (Epic or similar has a huge support department. Ogre has a massive, and helpfull, community. How do you compete with that?)

Ultimately, the buying process boils down to 4 different things:

- Marketing (will this help sell more titles, i.e. "powered by Unreal3")
- Risk (will this make the title more likely to ship, i.e. "proven MMOG back-end technology, proven to handle 100,000 concurrent users)
- Features (provide features that would otherwise be expensive to implement, i.e. "dynamic umbra/penumbra occlusion culling")
- Cost (significantly cheaper than implementing it yourself, i.e. "Full art-pipeline for GUI creation")
- Support (who do I turn to when this breaks? (i.e. "24 hour telephone support, as well as a big QA department").

Best of luck,

Allan

All of the points you’ve pointed out do cover a lot. I’d say having a niche and a good product with decent support would be a good starting point, with good advertising to attract clients. But developing a solid product still takes time and effort, as well as resources. As a hoppy I don’t mind – and when I do have something cool to show for my efforts I can sell it =)

I believe the engine market is tough place to compete... there are so many extraordinary engines out there that it's difficult to compete.

Take a look at devmaster.net to see some engines... you'll get the picture.

I think making an engine that would use top-notch high tech just when it arrives could have some potential (until others come!)... but... it's hard. :)